State To Disperse Goats Seized In Cornwall Animal Cruelty Case

CT Department of Agriculture has finally found a home for 96 goats it seized as part of an animal cruelty case

The Connecticut Department of Agriculture has announced a plan to disperse dozens of goats it seized from a Cornwall farm in January after many of the animals were found malnourished or suffering from other diseases, but says that the majority of the animals were infected with diseases and cannot be reintroduced to healthy herds.

The department seized 74 sickly goats from the Butterfield Farm Co. in January and charged the farms owners with animal cruelty charges. The goats have been housed at the state's animal rehabilitation facility in Niantic, but lab tests revealed that the majority of the goats were suffering from one or more incurable and highly contagious animal diseases, making them unsuitable to be reintroduced to agriculture production.

The department recently auctioned off 46 of the disease goats for $5,750 and has plans to auction off two more of the infected animals soon, spokesman Steve Jensen said Tuesday.

Jensen said the diseased goats will not be reintroduced into herds, but are suitable for consumption.

"They can actually go back into the food chain, because those diseases are not transmittable to humans when they are consumed," Jensen said.

An additional 12 diseased goats will be placed with the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, where they will be quarantined away from the other animals at the facility.

There will be a sealed auction to distribute the 13 goats that tested disease free and can be reintroduce to agriculture production, while the 23 baby goats born at the Niantic facility since the goats were seized in January will be offered to agricultural schools and other youth agriculture programs through the department's Kids for Kids program.

Any of the baby goats not placed in an agriculture program will then be tested for disease when they are old enough and auctioned off if healthy.

"We all hoped that every one of those livestock animals could be put back into agricultural production," Agriculture Commissioner Steven Reviczky said in a statement. "The decision to disperse the herd in this manner was made after months of treatment and testing by our veterinarians concluded that the contagious diseases present in the majority of animals made them not suitable for agriculture or for placement that would risk disease transmission."

The department said the cost to care for the goats at its Niantic facility has been approximately $42,000 since January.